The EU gravy train

MargaretR · 22-02-2009, 12:22

The EU gravy train makes our UK MPs look angelic

Secret report reveals how MEPs make millions - Times Online
The corruption revealed in this Times article is mindboggling

I am dissatisfied with the way that our membership of the EU has affected life in this country.
There are no doubt some here who are for being in, and some who think we should get out.
Please can we discuss here the benefits and disadvantages of both,
and what difficulties we will have if we opt out.
I have been pro Europe in the past but now have serious doubts about it.

cmonstanley · 22-02-2009, 13:33

i used to be pro europe but i am set against it now when any criminal can come into the uk without been vetted and live next door to you .we should sort out our own country out without inviting any more criminals from europe we have enough of our own and the child benefit scandal has just been brushed under the carpet....

garinda · 22-02-2009, 14:42

Although I was too young to vote when there last was a referendum, still being at Primary school, I wouldn't have voted to join.

What was sold as an economic union, or a Common Market as it was formerly called, is now something very different, whose aim seem to be a United States of Europe, which I very much oppose.

Like her or loath her at least Maggie stood up for this country against the European bureaucrats, and got aour unfairly weighted contribution reduced. No one seems to be standing out corner in Brussels nowadays, certainly not the motley group of political has beens, who seem to make up the largest proportion of out representatives in the European Parliament.

The very term 'European Parliament' sound like an anathema to me, because the British public were never asked if that is what they wanted.

If we were to have another referendum, as was promised but not honoured by the government, I'd vote out, for everything other than the most simple of economic ties.

With countries like Turkey set to join, the situation will only get worse for those countries who end up being the main contributors.

MargaretR · 22-02-2009, 14:53

I wrote to an MEP a few months ago and never got a reply.
From what I understand about how the EU parliament works, it is the non-elected beaurocrats who make the rules and the MEPs just vote on whether to accept them.

cashman · 22-02-2009, 15:05

i always was in favour of the E.U. back in the day, thought we should have gone fully in not part way right from the start, did not envisage the almighty "cock ups" that would occur, wether that is cos we never became fully into it from day one, is summat we will never know.

but if we did get the referendum "Labour" promised i would now vote OUT.

must dash,just seen a pig fly by the window.

Wynonie Harris · 22-02-2009, 18:34

EU membership is the worst thing that has ever happened to this country. After fighting against countless would-be invaders for a thousand years, the politicians who rule us have meekly surrendered our sovereignty to, as Margaret quite rightly says, a bunch of non-elected bureaucrats in Brussels. The whole bloated EU organisation is so corrupt and riddled with dubious practices that its own auditors have refused to sign the accounts off for 12 years running.

I don't want the referendum that this government promised over the Lisbon Treaty - a promise which it has now blatantly broken because it's frightened of losing it. I want a referendum on the whole question of membership of the EU itself. Of course, we won't get one because all three parties are in favour of the EU and they can't risk the vote going against them. Then they wonder why we hold them in such contempt!

MargaretR · 22-02-2009, 18:43

Just over 2 years ago the Liberals were saying we should have a referendum about whether to stay in or get out
BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems call for EU referendum
I don't know their policy now - anybody know?

Wynonie Harris · 22-02-2009, 18:53

Reading that story, it would seem that it's the personal opinion of the previous leader of the Lib/Dems. Would doubt that the faceless nonentity...what's-his-name...currently leading the Lib/Dems would have the bottle to do it.

Retlaw · 22-02-2009, 18:57

I've always been of the opinion from day 1 of this so called club, we should never have joined, fatty whitelaw should have been hanged.
The Germans have never been able to subdue us on the battlefield, we wiped the bums and changed the nappies of the frogs in two world wars, for which they've never forgiven us.
So the frogs and the jerry's decided they could beat us in their boardroom and negotiating palaces, and they are.

The sooner were are out the better, we had a far bigger market in the Commonwealth, than we've ever had in europe, and we did'nt have to do any translating, every body spoke English.

Retlaw.

cashman · 22-02-2009, 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

Just over 2 years ago the Liberals were saying we should have a referendum about whether to stay in or get out
BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems call for EU referendum
I don't know their policy now - anybody know?

Doubt very much if they know.

MargaretR · 27-05-2009, 11:26

I received my EU postal ballot form today, so I have been digging for info about how the EU operates.

I have found stuff that our wonderful BBC

has never reported

I am posting videos because I don't think you want to wade through beaurocratic mumbo jumbo stuff (but you may decide to look for yourself when you have seen these)

I do not tell you how to vote
Look, read and decide.
Knowledge is power, ignorance is what they are relying on.

andrewb · 27-05-2009, 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

I wrote to an MEP a few months ago and never got a reply.
From what I understand about how the EU parliament works, it is the non-elected beaurocrats who make the rules and the MEPs just vote on whether to accept them.

Indeed you're right. Which means when you 'vote' in the European elections, you are voting for a candidate that can have no mandate. They cannot set out a stall and say, 'this is what we will do in Europe', as they are not the initiators of legislation.

MargaretR · 27-05-2009, 12:02

here is the link to the page where you can vote for having a referendum
x09.eu/

jaysay · 27-05-2009, 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

here is the link to the page where you can vote for having a referendum
x09.eu/

Thanks for the link Margaret

Wynonie Harris · 27-05-2009, 18:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

I have found stuff that our wonderful BBC

has never reported

No, and you won't find the BBC telling us the truth about the EU. Same goes for the mainstream political parties. The Tories like to pretend that we can stay in the EU and still remain independent, while Lab and the Lib-Dems simply smear any Eurosceptics as racist, xenophobic etc.

In fact, the EU is the greatest con trick ever perpetrated on this country. It is irredeemably corrupt, ruinously wasteful and profoundly undemocratic in both its operation (MEPs are powerless pawns) and theory (the Irish have to be made to vote again until they get it right).

The myth that the Lisbon Treaty is not a European constitution is yet another lie from this government to file alongside weapons of mass destruction and all the others.

When you vote next week, be aware that if you vote Lab/Con/Lib-Dem, you are effectively voting for the end of the UK as an independent democracy. The choice is yours...